BBQ Beef Cups

Yum! These were really good and so simple.

This recipe was originally from:

Ashleigh's Edibles

• 1 pound lean ground beef (I had leftover meat)
• 2 TBS McCormick Grill Mates "Hamburger" Seasoning (they did not have this at my store so I used the sloppy joe mix), or just use salt, pepper, garlic, roasted red pepper, and sugar)
• 1/4 cup barbeque sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 TBS mustard
• 1 (12 oz) package refrigerated biscuit dough--I used the reduced fat Grand's (I think these may have been a little big because I couldn't get alot of the meat mixture into them after they puffed up)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (divided)- I used a mixture
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin cups.


2. In large skillet, brown beef with seasonings, Drain excess fat.


3. Stir in BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, and simmer a few minutes on low heat.


4. Add 1/4 cup cheese, heat until melted


5. Meanwhile, flatten each biscuit and press into muffin cups. Make sure the dough comes to the top of the pan.


6. Bake plain biscuits 2-3 minutes.


7. Remove from oven and add beef mixture.


8. Bake in preheated oven for 13 minutes.


9. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 3-4 more minutes.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are just plain chocolate chip muffins from the Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook. They were a little dry and short and according to Betty this is because the flour was overmeasured, the oven was too hot or muffins were baked too long. I think I baked them too long. We still managed to eat them all though.



Original Recipe For Blueberry Muffins

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup fresh, canned or frozen blueberries

Chocolate Chip Muffins: Omit blueberries, fold 1 cup minature semiweet chocolate chips into batter (mine were just regular size)

1. Heat oven to 400*F. Grease bottoms only of 12 medium muffin cups with shortening, spray or line with paker baking cups.
2. In large bowl, beat milk, oil and egg with fork or wire whisk until well mixed. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy) Fold in bluberries/chocolate chips. Pour into muffin cups.
3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. If pan is greased, let stand about 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to wire rack.

Foodie Blog Roll

I am a new member of the Foodie Blog Roll! I love scrolling through all the blogs and am getting so many ideas! From the title of my blog you can see I am really new to all this cooking and baking. I am also a closet foodie and will only cook/bake for my husband. I am going to work on this, though. I know it's weird but I have this huge fear of people not liking my food! My husband even starts his sentences, "This is a really great meal but don't you think it needs a little more of this or that" so he won't hurt my feelings!

Anyway, if you stumble upon this post a comment! I am loving this blogging!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

I first heard someone mention this on the What's Cooking Board of the Nest. I found a recipe for it at allrecipes.com, but mainly its just chicken and salsa! I used 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, jar of salsa, can of black beans and a can of corn. I cooked it on low for 8 hours. I probably would wait until the end next time to put the corn and beans in, but it was very delicious. I think someone also mentioned adding taco seasoning, but mine was very good as is. I had mine with tortillas that I had brushed with olive oil and baked. Brad had his in regular soft tortillas. He said it was"fantabulous!" and that is good considering he can be picky.


Fresh tomato salsa? That is what I was going for but I think it was more like pico-de-gallo? It was great whatever it was. I used fresh tomatoes from my sister's garden (they were small-either roma or cherry?), half of a jalepeno that I had seeded and had been in the freezer, a little chopped onion, a few spoonfuls minced garlic, lots of cilantro, and a dash of salt. I also added a little sugar although I'm not sure why. As you can tell this was an experiment, but I think it turned out quite well.

Burgers, Oven Fries and Oven Squash

Tonight was really good, especially for my meat-lover husband. The burgers were really thick so I just ate mine without the bun with a fork. I just tossed a bunch of things together for the burgers---1 lb. meat (93/7), diced onions, several TBS Worcheshire, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Italian bread crumbs.

Oven Fries-I used Russet potatoes that had been soaked in water for about an hour. I then drizzled olive oil, salt, pepper and topped with parmesan (note to self--spray foil on cookie sheet next time!) They kind of stuck a little bit. I baked at 400 for about 50 minutes. Next time I will probably use a different kind of potato. Brad liked them, but they seemed a bit hard to me.

Oven-Fried Squash- I cut the squash into slices and dipped into milk first and then coated with a mixture of parmesan and regular bread crumbs. I cooked them along with the potatoes but only for about 30 minutes. These were surprisingly good. I didn't think I even liked squash!

Quaker's Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is just from under the lid of the Quaker's oatmeal, but they are really good! I only made half of this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened


• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar


• 1/2 cup granulated sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 tsp. vanilla


• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp cinnamon


• 1/2 tsp. salt (optional)


• 3 cups Quaker's Oats (quick or old fashioned)


• 1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 350


2. Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy


3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.


4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.


5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.


6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.


7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.


8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, move to wire rack.


9. Yield=about 4 dozen

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

I have been making these for a long time. Whenever I want something chocolate without heating up the oven and that only takes a few minutes I whip these up. My mom has the original recipe (It came from a Remenisce magizine). I know the ingredients and I just combine them all how I think they should go.

Ingredients:

• 1 square unsweetened chocolate (I have also used semi-sweet-just makes them sweeter)



• 1/4 cup butter (I use light at room temp)



• 6 TBS sugar



• 1 egg



• 1/2 cup flour



• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Heat up waffle iron. I also grease mine so they don't stick. While heating, melt the chocolate first (I put it in microwave and stir frequently). I then add the butter to chocolate and stir. Add egg, vanilla and sugar. Lastly add flour. It should not be a thick batter. Once the waffle iron is hot, I use a heaped up spoonful and push the batter onto the waffle iron with my finger (you could also pour from a measuring cup). I can get about 4 waffle cookies per batch (about 2 in. in width) but will differ depending on your waffle iron. It only takes about a minute or when you see steam starting to come out. They should be hard enough to easily remove with a fork or knive. Dust with powdered sugar and heat while hot. I usually eat the first batch before the next one comes out! Yield--about 16 2 in. waffle cookies.

Grilled Chicken Salad

Everyone knows how to make grilled chicken salad, just thought I'd post my pics. I'm looking for different marinades. Tonight I just used olive oil, salt, pepper and grill seasoning. Add salad, cheese, croutons, and dressing and we have ourselves dinner. I also love my grill pan since we don't have an outside grill. It's one of my favorite wedding gifts!

Pizza

This is one thing I have been making for a long time because I do not like the fattening/greasy pizza of major pizza chains. Most of the time I buy the pre-made pillsbury dough, but would love to start making my own. For sauce, I always have some sort of tomato product in the freezer. I never use all the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, etc., so I just food-process them all together and freeze in a pizza sauce jar. I then add Italian seasoning, oregano, and maybe parsely. Today I added fresh tomatoes from my sister's garden. I put some olive oil in a pan and toss in onions, garlic and mushrooms for topping. I then add pepperoni's to my husband's side and just the mushrooms/onion/garlic/tomato on mine. Put mozz. cheese over all of it and bake according to Pillsbury instructions! Yummy!

Muffins from Nothing

Since I do shopping on Sunday, by the time Sunday morning rolls around, there is absolutely nothing in the house. No cereal, out of bread for toast, etc. We make waffles sometimes, as all that requires is staples. However, I didn't even have enough milk to make a batch of those. I found a recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Pink Cookbook for just plain muffins with different variations. Because of course there was no fruit left, it was down to the oatmeal variation with streusel topping.

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour


• 1/3 cup sugar


• 2 tsp. baking powder


• 1/4 tsp. salt


• 1 beaten egg


• 3/4 cup milk


• 1/4 cup cooking oil


• 1 recipe streusel topping

For the oatmeal variation, I prepared as above, except reduced flour to 1 1/3 cups and added 3/4 cup rolled oats to flour mixture. Blueberries, cranberries and other fruit can also be added to the batter.

• Grease twelve 2 1/2 in. muffin cups or line with cups (I only got 10 muffins out of this)


• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture.


• In another bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir until just moistened (batter should be lumpy)


• Spoon batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle with streusel topping (if desired). Bake in 400 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes until centers come out clean.

Streusel topping: 3 TBS all-purpose flour, 3 TBS brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon. Cut in 2 TBS. butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 2 TBS. chopped nuts (I didn't have any). I doubled this because I love topping!

About Me

I frequently lurk on http://www.thenest.com/ and love the What's Cooking Board. Everyone has awesome Blogs so I thought I would try my hand at it. I was recently married and have no real cooking experience! During college and living by myself I mostly made really simple things like brown rice, broccoli, chicken, and fruits and veggies. Now, with a husband who loves to eat, I am trying to actually cook more and plan out menus. Now with two people eating, when I make something I don't have to eat leftovers for five days!